The story of Bill reminds me of Moose, the belgian I saved from an auction.
He wasn't an Amish horse, but had pulled buggies around our state capitol for years and on a team hitch.
He had come with the name Barnie, as his team mate had been named Fred.. But they had been sold seperately after Fred couldn't pull anymore.
I saw an ad for an estate auction and went to it. Saw this severely underweight belgian draft horse standing in a low barn tied in the aisle with rotting goat skins
around him.
I couldn't let him stay there and with the help of a very nice young lady who was bidding on a surrey they had there, she recognized him from his carriage horse days,
and we struck a deal. She paid for most of him, got the harness that he wore, and I got him.
I boarded him with her, and after starting him on a diet to help him gain weight he nearly foundered. But with quick thinking and great vets, he pulled out of it.
I ended up moving him after I paid her back, and then moving the poor guy another time to a nice larger boarding stable, he started
to gain the weight he needed.
I had made friends with a wonderful lady who really bonded with Moose (I renamed him moose due to his HUGE upper lip and how he would reach with it for things) and the thought of Barney
made me thing of a big purple dinosaur.
I gave her Moose after she bought a horse that had turned out to not have been ridden in 7 yrs. We sort of traded, she had to move to Ann Arbor or there abouts.
I took care of Moose for 4 months while she got set up, got a job and found a boarding stable similar to the one he was at.
I remember the day we climbed up into the pasture, she called out to him...
"Moosie, Moosie, Moosie!!" The thunder of his hooves, and the herd behind him, he hadn't seen her in soo long, but his bond with her was true.
He as 17 or 18 yrs old then, gleaming with health, and hugged her soo hard!!
I will have to find the pics, but they are close by.
I helped her find a shipper, and get him his traveling papers, and off he went. He settled in fine there.
That was several years ago now. I am sure he is in horse heaven, but hope he is still around.
Sometimes a horse crosses your path, and you help it to find the person they are meant to be with. I have done it a few times now.
The horse that hadn't been ridden for 7 yrs, went on to be a great kids/family horse. An even trade for a morgan/qh gelding, who went on to be a trusted friend and trail mount
for a lady who had some bad falls and fear issues with horses.
A 3 yr old 3/4 arab 1/4 asb gelding purchased at an auction, kept just long enough to get his papers, and sold for a 100 more than I paid for him to a great trainer who showed him, and then sold him to a show home.
I am doing that now with the arab gelding I got for free, he needs to go to a show home.
And its how Indi, my mare is for me. She was donated to a program in KY, sold to a fellow in the WI Dells, who was down there visiting and riding. He posted an ad on a web group I belonged to when MSN had its groups. He was changing his focus of his rent by the hour riding stable.
I have a daffy, neurotic asbx who is a great horse willing to do anything I ask her.
Just wanted to share.
Carol
